Dispenser drum



DISPENSER DRUM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed latch 25. 1938 BY n ATTORNEY.

Od. Z2 1940.. T

DISPENSER' DRUM rma umn 25.V 195e 2 Sheets-sheet 2 IN VENTOR.

Patented Oct. 2.2, 1940 DISPENSER DRUM Tully De vStefani, Chicago, lll.,assignor, by mesne assignments, to The Bastian-Blessing Company,Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application March z5, 193s,serial No. 198,157

8 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in dispensing apparatus and hasas one of its principal objects the provision of a magazine for vendiblearticles and especially adapted to use 5 in refrigerated dispensingmachines.

Another object is the provision of an article magazine for useparticularly in refrigerated dispensing apparatus, the magazine being inthe nature of a drum having compartments arranged l about its periphery,and the compartments being formed by an assembly of partition platesclamped between axial end castings, the structure being simple, easilyassembled, inexpensive, rugged, and greatly facilitating the cooling ofarticles contained therein.

A further object is the provision of a skeletonized magazine drumconsisting of a series of especially shaped partition plates arrangedside by side in circumferential array to provide com- 20 partmentsextending collaterally with the axis of the drum, the partition platesbeing clamped between special open-work axial end castings constitutingthe ends of the drum. Another object is the provision of a drum of the25 kind described in which at least one of the end castings is depressedinto the drum,. there being a special mounting bracket for the drum anddesigned to fit closely into the depressed end casting so as to minimizethe mounting obstruction at that-end of the drum whereby to renderpossible the placement of a cooling device very close to the drum forcirculating of cooling currents about the same as will appearhereinafter.

Still another object is the provision of a drum- 35 shaped magazine withsubstantial-ly unobstructed axial ends and a peripheral drive meansarranged between said ends.

Other novel aspects and objects of the invention include theconstruction, form, location and operation of various elements of thepreferred embodiment shown herein, including details of the 4drum anddrive means therefor, means for mounting the drum such as the hangerspiders or brackets, the partition members, and the like, all of whichwill appear as the following description proceeds in view of the annexeddrawings in which:

Figs. 1 and 2 are complementary vertical sec- 50 tions through adispensing machine incorporating the invention;

Fig. 3 is a lfragmentary horizontal section through the magazine drumand peripheral drive means therefor, as seen along lines 3-3 of Fig. 1;

55. Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional detail of the partition andperipheral drive mounting, as seen in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a perspective detail of a drum mounting spider bracket; i

Fig. 6 is an enlarged perspective fragment of 5 the upper end-castingfor the drum; L

Fig. 7 is a perspective side view of one of the partitions; y

Fig. 8 is a perspective fragment of the rim portion of the bottom drumend-casting. 10

This invention constitutes a continuation-inpart of the subject matterdisclosed in my copending United States applications, Serial Nos.198,155, 198,156, filed of even date herewith for improvements indispensing apparatus.

The illustrative and preferred embodiment of the invention shown hereinincludes a cabinet I5 (Figs. 1 and 2) having an open top I6 normallyclosed by .a mounting base I1 for a refrigerating mechanismv (not shownherein) in such manner that the top is sealed shut by the mounting base.y

Depending from the' mounting base I1is a cooling device in the form ofexpansion coils I8 having connection with the refrigerating mechanism.'I'hecoils I8 are arranged in the usual convolute form, and dependingfrom the base is a blower or ian I9 driven bya shaft 20 extended throughthe base I'l and having driving connection with a motor on the upperside of the base. The blower circulates air down through the coils I8and the refrigerating compartment therebelow.

A closure or door 25 for the cabinet I5 constitutes a control panelwhich includes a coin-freed control unit projecting through an openingin the door from Within the cabinet and including an oscillatory controlhandle 26.

Below the control unit is a discharge tray 28 `.onto which articles aredischarged from a chute 29 in the cabinet and past gates 30, there beinga resilient buffer 3| at the outer end of the tray and against which thedispensed articles vdescend. The inner end or mouth 32 of the chute ispositioned opposite the dispensing station of a magazine dispensing drum35 constituting a particular feature of the invention of the presentapplication. Y The novel magazine drum is' formed by assembling aplurality of especially designed partition members 40 (Figs. 3, 4, 7)side by side in circular array and clamping the same between specialperforate or open-work end castings. v

Referring particularly to Figs. 4 and 7, the

partitions 40 are preferably made by extruding 55 a light-weight nietal,such as an aluminum alloy. to provide elongated, trifoliate or triplexmembers, somewhat Y-shaped in cross-section, with three elongatedsurfaces diverging from a common origin so as to have a middle partitionstem 4| having a laterally divergent edge ange 42 along' one edge, withdivergent wings 43 extending from the opposite and remaining edge. 'I'hefree edge portions of both wings 43 are provided with divergentosetmounting flanges 44 adapted to iit in mounting slots in the drumend-castings.

To complete the drum structure, there are provided axial end-castings ofopen-work con- 15.,

struction. Referring to Fig. 3, the bottom endcasting (seealso Figs. 4and 8) is preferably of aluminum and has a rim 48 with an upstandingannular flange 49 disposed between the peripheral edges of the -rim.

spaced along the outer rim portion are a plurality of bosses or mountingseats 50 for'the partitions, and each bom has a lateral seating slot 5|extending in a circumferential sense and into which Ithe angled ends 45of the offset flanges 44 of adjoining partitions are seated (Fig. 4).

The rim of the lower casting has a plurality of spokes 54 converging ina hub 55. In the webbing at the juncture of the spokes with th rim areformed threaded tie-rod bores 56.

A companion end-casting for the opposit or top end of the drum is ofrecessed shape` (Fig. l) and includes a hub 60 from which radiate spokes9| each turned up into substantially axially extending side flanges 62all terminating in a raised rim 53 (see also Fig. 6). Spaced along theunder side of the rim 63 are partition-seating bosses 64 having slots 55and similar to the bosses 50-5I of Figs. 4 and 8.

In assembling the magazine drum, the partiu tions 40 are arranged sideby side with their respective top and bottom offset flange portions 45seated in the slots 55 and 5| respectively of the top and bottomend-castings, the latter then being drawn together by means such as therods 59 (Fig. 1) threaded into tapped bores 56 in the castings.

It should be observed that each partition member 4I has four points ofsupport, two at top and bottom, through the agency of the oppositeflange portions 45, and while the material of which the drum elements isconstructed is of light weight, yet 'the Adrum structure is very firmand strong.

Means for mounting the novel drum inthe refrigerated cabinet I5 includesa vertical shaft 10 seated at its lower end in a stanchion 1 I, andsupported at its upper end in a special recessed spider bracket, theshaft extending through bearings 12 arranged in the several hubformations 55 and 60 of the end-castings.

A recessed supporting spider for the upper end of the shaft 10 is shownin Fig. 5 (Fig. 1 also) and includes a' hub 15 with a bore for the shaftand a set screw 'I6 clamping the spider and shaft together. Radiatingfrom the hub are arms 11 each having a double upward bend sectionincluding vertically. or axially directed intervmediate portions 19turning into divergent horizontal feet 19 each having a flange rest 80apertured to receive mounting lugs (not seen) on wall brackets 9|(Fig. 1) arranged on the inner walls amazon Since the end castings areopen and the spaces 5 around the partitions also open in an axialdirection, air circulated downwardly by the blower I9 will move freelyin and about the drum, there being a ready heat exchange between suchair and the highly conductive aluminum body portions of lthe drum, withthe result that articles in the several compartments formed by thepartitions 40 will be quickly cooled.,

'I'he dispensing `means itself includes a plurality of movable bottommembers in the form of carriages or dollies 90 (Fig. 2) pivotallymounted on the bottom casting beneath each open bottom ofthe severalcompartments. These carriages 90 have rollers 9| which ride on ahorizontal, discontinuous track 92 during rotation of the drum so as tomaintaingthe several carriages in normal bottom-closing orarticle-sustaining position beneath their respective drum compartments.

As the magazine drum is rotated, the carriages 90 are moved sequentiallyinto a discontinued or 25 interrupted portion 93 of the trackoppositethe chute mouth 22, which effects a dropping of the carriage sothat an article thereon will graviytate into the chute 29 and out ontothe tray 28.

This dispensing mechanism is particularly`de- 30 scribed and claimed inmy aforesaid co-pendingV application, Serial No. 198,156. Sumce it tosay herein, that the dollies are automatically restored to raisedarticle-sustaining -position upon subse' quen-t movement of the drum,this being accom-,35 plished by a translatory restoring extension of thepart 93 of the track which curves gradually back into a horizontal planeinto the main track 92.

In order to rotate the drum l5 in steps in one n direction, there isprovided a novel peripheral drive means including (Figs. 3.and 4) adriven member in the form of a ring gear. |00 made up of cast segmentsor arcs individually attached in alignment around the periphery of thedrum 35 by means such as the screws |0| threaded through the lip flanges42 in the partitions 40 at a level opposite a driving pinion |02 meshingtherewith. 'Ihe pinion |02 is driven by the coinfreed control means 25in undirectional steps 50 each moving the drum a distance equivalent tothat between adjacent compartments, wherebythe respective carriages ordollies may be suc-y cessively moved into the discontinuous part of thetrack to trip the carriages and eject an arti- 55 cle therefrom.

Attention is called to the fact that 'where articles are stacked oneupon another in the several compartments, means including a temporaryarticle-sustaining ledge |05 (Fig. 2) is arranged 60 to project beneaththe higher-level articles above the discharge station to prevent sucharticles from following the discharged lower article out of thecompartment. This sust'aining means also includes a ramp arrangement(not shown) 65 descending from the far end of the ledge |05 by means ofwhich sustained articles are lowered one by one back onto restoredcarriages. This arrangement is shown in detail in my aforesaidco-pending applications.

In the illustrative embodiment, the d'rum compartments are loaded withbottled beverages (shown in dotted lines Figs. 1 and 2), which areemciently cooled as a result of the special construction of the drumitself and the arrangement u o f the cooling means close to oneunobstructed end of the drum.

It is to be. understood that a wide variety oi' packaged items, otherthan those in bottles, may be loaded into the drum compartments, forexample, ice cream packets, frozen foodstuffs, bottled milk, and so on.

Various changes may-be made in the preferred construction explained indetail herein, and the objects and advantages of the invention may beaccomplished in various ways without departing from the spirit of theinvention, so'that it is to be understood that all equivalentarrangements r as to form, location, and operation are included Withinthe call of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire toprotect by Letters Patent is:

1. A magazine drum comprising aplurality of 25 foliation of each of saidpartitions extending inv a radial plane and mutually constitutingarticle compartments about said center in the space intervening betweenadjoining partitions.

2. A magazine drum comprising a plurality of elongated trifoliatepartitions arranged about a common center and each having a particularone of their foliations extending substantially in a plane throughsaid'center to provide, cooperably with adjacent and like foliations,article compartments about said center, and a pair of perforate endmembers each having a rim portion clamped against the oppositelongitudinal end portions of the two remaining foliationsl` conjugateWith said particular foliations of veach partition.

3. A magazine drum comprising a plurality of elongated trifoliatepartitions arranged about a common center and each having a particularone of their foliations 'extending substantially in a plane through saidcenter to provide, cooperably with adjacent and like foliations, articlecompartments about said center, and a pair of perforate end members eachhaving a rim portion clamped against the opposite longitudinal endportions of the two remaining foliations conjugate with said particularfoliations of each partition, the free edge portions of said particularfoliations having laterally projecting flange portions constitutingmeans for conning articles against movement laterally out of the severalcompartments.

4. A magazine drum comprising a pluralityof elongated integrally formedtrifoliate partitions arranged about a common center and each having aparticular one of their foliations extending and a pair of perforateendmembers eachhaving a rim portion clamped against the oppositesubstantially in a, plane through said cente'rto5 provide, cooperablywith adjacent and like foliations, article compartments about saidcenter,V

tionsof each partition, the Ifree edge portions of v sala particularfellations having laterally projecting flange portions constituting mefor conning articles against movement laterally out of the severalcompartments, said compartments being open at their longitudinal ends,said end members being provided with formations for engagementwitnme'ans adapted to support said drum for rotation about said center.v

45. A magazine for use in dispensing apparatus and comprising aplurality of partitions in the form of elongated members each havingthree in- 'tegral conjugate websarranged in a divergent manner, saidpartitions being arranged about a center, a particular one of said websof each partion extending in a plane substantially radial to saidcenter, said partitions being clamped between opposite end membershaving 'means to support f the same for rotation about said center. saidparticular webs of adjoining partitions providing article compartmentstherebetween.

6. A rotatable drum for dispensing machines comprising opposite axialend members, and a plurality of partitions mounted therebetween tocomplete the drum and form compartments thereabout, said partitionshaving retaining flange means at their radially outer portions and eachextending in a circumferential direction to confine articles ln thecorresponding compartments while permittingA such articles to be seentherein, and drive means including a ring gear formed of segmentsmounted end to end in alignment about said drum andeach secured to oneor more of said retaining flange means, said drum being adapted to berotatably driven by adriving gear meshed with said ring gear.

7. A magazine drum'for dispensing machines and comprising opposite endmembers each having a rim portion joined with a hub portion, each ofsaid rim portions have circumferentially spaced 4'0 lpartition-receiving mounting slots, and partition members arrangedcircumferentially between vsaid end members. each partition having amain'web portion from which diverge two attaching webs, each of the saidattaching webs having an oifset mounting ange adapted to t in saidmounting slots in the rim portions with said'maln web 'lying inxa planethrough the axis of the drum, the space between the main web and onedivergent we b portion of each adjoining pair of partitions constitutingan article storage space, and means for 1 drawing said end memberstogether to' clamp said mounting flanges in said slots and hold theparts in assembled relation.`

8. A drum in accordance with' claim 7 and further characterized in thateach of said main webs is provided with a lateral flange along-the ledgethereof` opposite the, ,juncture of said divergent webs therewith, andthey drs/mls furtherpmvlded with'driving means in the form 'of a ringgear consisting of a plurality of. c ntiguous segments arrangedcircumferentially ar und the drum and each secured to one` or' more ofsa'd flanges on the ,main web, said gear being adap d for coopera- ,tionwith driving means for rotating the drum. c5

